It’s Official

 

Florida Keys (high 79, low 71)

 

We have had a busy week and I’m a little behind on my blog.

The cold front that moved across the mainland, managed to make it’s way all the way down to Key West, bringing cooler temperatures and strong winds. Windy days are typical for March, so I guess we’ll have to skip boating until the winds die down.

We got an email the other day from bloggers Rick and Kathy.  They are staying here in the Keys in nearby Summerland Key, and wanted to get together.  We suggested a late lunch at Geiger Key Marina.  We turned them on to hogfish and now I think we have two new converts.

As usual, with other Rv’ers, we had no problem with conversation and before we knew it, a few hours had passed.  We had a nice lunch, despite the worst waitress ever.

Rick and Kathy are very nice folks and we enjoyed meeting them and getting to know them in person.  See ya down the road guys!

 

Yesterday was a big day for us, when we closed on our new RV lot here in the Keys.  It’s on Cudjoe Key, and in Venture Out Resort.  Our lot is actually on Summer Place.  How funny, since it’s going to be our winter place!

We are official land owners in the Florida Keys.   It’s a mighty small piece of land, but it’s all ours! 

Everything in the Keys is measured by mile markers, with the furthest southern point being Key West at mile marker 0.  Our new lot is at milemarker 23, which is 23 miles from the southernmost point in the United States.

After closing, the first thing we did was go to the library and get a new library card.  We seem to find plenty of free books at the campgrounds, but we still always like having access to a library when we can.

After the library, we went down to Venture Out to get signed in.  We had to bring our closing paperwork to prove we own a lot since it’s a gated park.  We got our entry sticker and now can get in and out without our Realtors help.

Our plan for closing day was to bring our swimsuits and spend some time in the saltwater pool and hot tub, and  sit by the water under the shade of a palm tree and do a little reading. The waterfront view is spectacular and since we can’t stay on our new site until our renters leave the first of next month, we at least wanted to enjoy the park a little.

Unfortunately, the wind was strong and blowing right off the ocean, so it felt pretty chilly.  It was not a good day for outdoor activities.

We decided to go to “plan b” and try out one of the local recommended restaurants for lunch.  We ate at the Square Grouper, and what a good recommendation that was.  It’s  the first time we’ve been to a restaurant with  cloth napkins for a looong time!   When we walked in, we were surprised there was a wait to be seated.  The lady in front of us was surprised as well, until she realized and said out loud, “it’s windy.”  Yep, when it’s windy in the Keys, no one is on the water and every place is more crowded than normal!   Only in the Keys!

We had the Friday special of Philly Cheese Steak sandwich (not very vegan ) but wow….was it good!   I’m still thinking about that meal, and we can’t wait to go back and try some of their other entrees.  The Friday special was $9 and included, fries, cole slaw and either beer or soft drink.  Al liked that!  Although we didn’t eat vegan yesterday, we could have easily, as they had several vegan choices, including a Portobello sandwich, and very nice salads.  We’ll definitely go back. 

After lunch, we made a few stops, then went back home, took a short nap and watched a little TV.

Later on, we decided to head back “downtown” to BoonDocks Grill and Drafthouse for happy hour.  It was the first time we had been there, and what a fun place it was.  They have entertainment every night, and last night local celebrity Howard Livingston and his band were playing.

Last week-end they had a group called the Mo-Towners.  We heard they were great and we were sorry we missed them.  This week-end there is a Beatles Tribute band, so I think we’ll go back for that.   The food looked and smelled good, although we didn’t need to eat after our big lunch.

Our next stop was back to Venture Out.  We had never seen the park at night.

It was pretty….but very, very windy, so we didn’t stay long.

The full moon was pretty over the water.

 

and here is MY catch of the day!

It’s windy again today, so I’m not sure what we’ll be doing.  Probably not going out in the boat!

Key West

 

Florida Keys  (high 78, low 68)

The cold front arrived dropping our temperatures by about 10 degrees, which makes it nice for sightseeing and Seafood Festivals, but not as nice for boating.

We went to the annual Marathon seafood Festival on Saturday.  We figured it might be a good idea to go early and beat some of the crowds, and it turned out we were right.   The place was crowded!   We had to pay $5 to park and $5 each for a ticket, and that didn’t buy us anything, except the right to enter. 

There were several booths that served different types of seafood.  You could even get a Florida lobster dinner for $18.   We figured Al would save his money and get his own lobster for a whole lot less.

What we enjoyed most were the local artists and craftsmen showing their creations.  Some of these artists were amazing.  I wanted to take some pictures to share with you, but most don’t appreciate you photographing their works.

One guy made the most amazing sculptures out of old driftwood.  He had one sculpture of a marlin jumping out of the water. It was 8-9 feet tall.  I wish I had a picture to show you.

There was beautiful jewelry made from sea glass.  A local  husband and wife team paint scenes on shiny ceramic tiles that are put in frames made from old lobster traps.  They had a huge mosaic type picture that was about 8 feet long by about 3 feet wide.  It depicted a reef scene and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I think it was $1200.  We were talking to the artist and mentioned we lived in a motor home and had no place to put one.  He said  last year a couple bought just the tiles, and installed them in the kitchen  of their motor home, as a backsplash.  He saw their finished work and he said it looked gorgeous.  When they sat outside you could see it and it looked like a giant aquarium.  Boy, did that give me an idea.

We didn’t stay at the seafood festival too long. There were different musicians playing all day, but we decided we had seen enough, so we left without eating.

When we got home, we decided not to take the boat out.  With the cooler temperature and breeze, we thought it might be a little chilly on the water.   I know, I know, we are wimps!   :)   But it was  cold.  I don’t think we got over 70 degrees that day! 

 

On Sunday, we decided to skip boating again, and instead head towards Key West.  The high was only going to be 73, and we thought it might be a day to spend in Key West where it wasn’t too hot.

We ended up starting at Higgs Beach in Key West.  The whole southern part of the island is beach area with Dog Beach, Higgs Beach, Smathers Beach, even Broken Glass Beach.  What a nice area.  There is a long sidewalk all along the beach area, and lots of free parking.   It runs for miles.

There were a lot of people enjoying the beach.

Volleyball games

dogs welcome

No day at the beach in Key West would be complete without some of the most famous residents.

Police patrol to keep everybody on their best behavior.

….and to prevent accidents.

There is a lot of history in this area, including slavery.

There was a fort back in the Civil War days.

There were remnants of the beautiful old fort.  It’s now being used as a Garden Club.  It was beautiful inside and outside.

The roof was interesting.

The grounds were landscaped with mostly native plants.

Check out this interesting tree.  It was too tall to get a good picture.

   

The ocean views were gorgeous.

We walked, and walked, and walked.  The beach had so much to offer, including piers and boardwalks.

tropical fish.

We started to get hot and tired, so we decided to head back to the car, to get some water and air conditioning.

We decided to drive around for a while while we cooled down. The traffic in town  is always crazy, with bicycles, tour trolley cars, and pedestrians.  There are so many people on bicycles and they ride like they own the roads. Most have no clue what’s behind them and expect you to watch out for them.  You’ll be stopped at a red light and one will come up behind you and go right through the red light. If you want to make a right turn, you’d better check behind you first.  I’ll bet a lot of people are killed each year.  They  are crazy.

We found this beautiful Frangipani tree, also known as a plumeria.  They make lei’s from this flower.

Evidently they lose all their leaves in the winter (why, I don’t know) and then the flowers start to appear in the spring.

Here in the Keys, you never know what you’ll see next.  This truck was made to look like a coral reef.  A little tacky, don’t you think?

We drove around awhile enjoying the AC and came across a few famous Keys landmarks.

This is the southernmost place in the entire US.   People line up to take their picture by the sign, which says southernmost part of the US.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good shot since we refused to park and stand in line.  One day, I guess we need our picture taken there, but it’s always too crowded.

Another famous landmark.  The end of highway 1.

Mile marker 0.   Another very photographed sign.

We saw this very cool motorcycle going by.  It was larger than most trikes we’ve seen and the guy seemed to be sitting up quite high, like he was a king or something.  Kinda cool.  His wife was following on a pretty yellow Harley.

 

I wished I could have gotten a better picture, but I soon got my chance, when we met them at the parking lot by Mallory Square.  It turns out they are from New Jersey, are fulltimers too, and are staying at Bluewater RV Park.   Small world.

I’m not a motorcycle fan, but this one was really cool looking.

Turns out, it was a Harley too.

We walked around Mallory Square for awhile.

A cruise ship was in port.

This area is very pretty.

 

These yachts are dwarfed by the cruise ship.

 

We walked around about an hour then decided we were pooped, so we headed home.

We got home, got our happy hour supplies and took a walk up to the bridge.

The water was calm, the tides were high and it was beautiful on the bridge.

I just  missed getting a shot of the cormorant swimming through the sea grass below.

Here is a southern stingray and if you look closely, you’ll see a needle fish on the top left side.

It was a very nice day.  We were tired and slept well.

Today, we plan on taking the boat out.  I’m sure there will be pictures tomorrow.